[gentoo-user] Re: confessions of a former USE=

[James]

Michael Orlitzky <mjo <at> gentoo.org> writes:



> > I should qualify that -- a lot of the descriptions suck, not all of
> > them.  When in doubt, I let the profile decide.

Thanks for all the deprecated flag cleaning tools/ideas.


> Nah, most of them suck. USE=derp enables libderp? Awesome. WTF does
> libderp actually DO for this package? We need a policy change to force
> developers to document all of their USE flags, but nobody wants to do
> the work I guess. (It would be hard.)

Yep. Digging a bit deeper into the ebuilds and codes does time limit
one's ability to discern what a particular flag is actually doing
in a given ebuild, particularly when used in multiple builds.

> First, you'd have to update euse (or a similar tool) to make the
> information available. There's no point in adding nice descriptions to
> metadata.xml if the users can't query it.

> Then, you'd have to figure out all the exceptions. Eclasses can add
> things to IUSE, so you would have to figure out the right language, like
> "you must document every flag in IUSE in the *ebuild*". You'd also want
> exceptions in cases like security bugs -- if there's a vulnerability in
> PHP tomorrow, you don't want to force me to add descriptions for 50 USE
> flags before I can fix it. Maybe just grandfather in existing versions.

Thanks for the insight and example. This is the sort of insight that belongs
in the devManual, imho. The devManual often does not explain the 'big'
picture and thus becomes a collections of facts, until one is bitten, goes
back and reads portions of the devManaul and then has an 'ah-ha' moment. 

> Repoman needs to enforce it, or else people will ignore it.

Excellent idea. I know that Gokturk has been working on the dev manual, and
doing a fantastic job, imho. He is quite friendly and receptive to ideas. I
just think he has keen insight in organizing and documents, so that is why I
mention him here. He seems to be sufficiently 'diplomatic' to mix all the
ideas and come up with a brew that is pleasing to most. Maybe this repoman
enhancement is a good topic for discussion in gentoo-dev, as repoman is
under study by quite a few folks these days? Surely the devManual and
repoman should be fully consistent and compatible resources....

> Finally, you'd have to push it through the council and fight about it on
> the mailing lists for a while.


We'll be pulling for you (MO) on additional vision and upgrades to
repoman.... gentoo-dev is quite wonderful when folks 'go at it'. It keeps us
calm on  gentoo-user, since the devs usually have sharps as insight once
ideas start flying around.... 


Thanks to all for the insights,
James